Touch sensitive electronic devices allow a user to interact with the device via touches, taps, pinches and other hand gestures. These electronic devices generally provide notifications alerting users to certain events, where the notifications are simply displays of information (e.g., static icons). For example, a smart phone may display a notification element to a user to alert the user of a received text message. In some instances, the user may tap or otherwise select the notification element in order to launch the associated application, so that the user can reply to the text message. However, this method requires the user to open the associated application in the foreground in order to take an action. Therefore, a method to more efficiently perform actions in response to received notifications is required.